The Gordon Research Conference on Periodontal Diseases: 30 Years of Progress will be held July 17th-22nd, 2011 at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. The mission of the Gordon Research Conferences is "To promote growth, development, and open communication of frontier developments in science among investigators, young scientists in development, and other persons responsible for the growth of science." The specific aim of this application is to provide funding for travel and the fixed conference fee for speakers and session moderators, and partial support for young investigators to participate in the Gordon Research Conference on Periodontal Diseases. The conference program itself comprises oral presentations relating to periodontal disease in the topic areas of the oral microbiome, innate and adaptive immunity, osteoimmunology, periodontal therapy and regeneration, patient disease specificity including genetic risk, and periodontal disease as a public health issue. Speakers and participants for this conference are admitted based upon Gordon Conference policies;the chair and co-chair are responsible for selecting speakers who are at the cutting edge of their respective disciplines, and conferees are selected based upon an application that details their activities and interests in the field. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This proposal is requesting support for US scientists, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students to attend the Gordon Research Conference on Periodontal Disease. This conference has been ongoing since 1981, and is designed to provide a forum for oral presentations and posters of cutting-edge, unpublished research studies from around the world covering the breadth of basic, clinical and translational sciences in periodontology.